Cabinet for disks and the like



June 11, 194. J.-A. llECKMAN Filed April 24. 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l June H, 1946. A. HECKMAN Patented June 11, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CABINET oe DISKS AND THE LIKE John A. Heckman, Elmhurst, 111., assignor to James F. Barnes, trustee 6 Claims.

This invention relates to a cabinet for disks and the like, and more particularly to a cabinet for phonograph disk records An object of the invention is to provide a cabinet adapted to contain disks, such as phonograph records, and which permits the ready selection of any desired disk with ease and convenience.

A further object is to provide such a cabinet wherein the disks are firmly and securely held without danger of scratching or breaking when not in use and when the cabinet is closed.

Another object is to provide such a cabinet which will permit the selection and automatic presentation of any desired disk in the cabinet by simply pressing a key or lever.

Yet another object is to utilize a door of the cabinet, not only as means for securing the disks when the door is closed but for receiving and positioning the disks as they ar presented for convenient grasp of the operator.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent after the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view as in Fig. 1 except that it shows the door in closed position; Fig. 3 is an enlarged front elevational view of a portion of the cabinet showing the location of the keys which may be pressed to release the disks; Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view in elovation, the section being taken a indicated at line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the lever and spring means for holding and releasing the disks.

As illustrated, the improved cabinet provides an enclosure the interior of which is a storage compartment for phonograph records or the like. It comprises the end pieces H! and H, a bottom piece I2, a top piece l3, a back piece It, and a front door 15. Corner pieces I5 are employed in the form illustrated to give increased strength.

The bottom piece H2 is provided with a number of parallel grooves H which extend from a point I8 to the front of the compartment. The bottom of the grooves is slightly inclined downwardly toward the front of the compartment and this serves to cause thedisks to roll forward when they are free. Instead of having the bottom of the grooves inclined downwardly toward the front of the cabinet, the same efiect may be accomplished by having these grooves the same depth throughout their length and tipping the bottom piece l2 toward the front. Thus, any means of providing an inclined lower surface on which the disks may roll toward the front .of the cabinet may be employed.

The top piece I3 is also provided with grooves which are designated ii! in the drawings. These grooves l9 receive the upper edges of the disks and guide them as they move in and out of the compartment.

The means for holding the disks in position within the compartment includes a series of levers 2.0 which are pivotally mounted side by side by means ofa transverse rod 2|, the ends of which are secured at the end pieces Hi and II near the upper front part of the cabinet. From its pivotal mounting at rod 2|, each of the levers 20; extends rearwardly just above the top piece [3 and has its foot; portion 22 turned downwardly and extending through one of the apertures 23. The cap 24 over the end of the lever, which may be of any resilient or fibrous material, ex-v tends directly into the path of the disk in one of the grooves !9 so that when the disk is positioned within the cabinet this cap engages the edges of the disk, and so long as this foot end of the lever is in downward position, blocks the diskagainst forward movement in the compartment.

A top cover piece 25 extendsover and is spaced from the top piece [3, the blocks 26 and 2! serving asspacers and supports. The cover piece 25 covers the lever mechanism and provides a space within which the levers may operate without being exposed either to the inside or the outside of the abin A series of springs 28, moreclearly illustrated in Fig. v5, is mounted to the underside of the cover piece 25. This series of springs may include an integral bar having the fingers 29 extending rearwardly, preferably in curved outline as illustrated. The end portions of the spring fingers bear against the foot portions 22 of the levers 20 andso resiliently presses them downwardly into contact with the edge of the disks being held in the compartment.

The levers 26 have the portions 30 and 3| extending forwardly from their pivot points and at the end of these portions are the keys 32 and 33. The longer portions 3E! and the shorter portions 3! are in alternate positions so as to enable lateral overlapping of the keys 32 and 33. The keys may carry indicia, such as the members shown on these keys in the drawings, or any other for identifying the particular disks.

At the front of the cabinet is the door l5 which is hingedly attached at its lower inside edge. When the door is opened to horizontal position, as shown in 4, the square edge 34 abuts against the front edge of the bottom piece l2 so to support the door in this position and prevent its falling downwardly. As seen in Fig. 4, when the door is open, its top or inner surface is aligned with the bottoms of the grooves so that a disk rolling down a groove rolls onto the surface of the door without bumping or dropping.

The door I5 is provided on its inner or top surface with a ridge 35 which extends substantially from one side to the other. However, the ends of this ridge terminate short of the end pieces H3 and H so that when the door is closed, the entire ridge is inside the cabinet. On its side nearest the hinged edge of the door, the ridge 35 has a curved surface 36. This surface is so curved as to substantially conform with the edge of the circular disk of a size for which the cabinet is designed. The other side of ridge 35 is also provided with a curved surface 31 which preferably conforms to the curvature of the disks so that the disks will be more efficiently held when the door is closed, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4.

The outer or top edge of door is provided with a lip 38, and the upper front portions of the top pieces and sides are cut away to receive this lip when the door is closed.

In the operation of the improved cabinet, the operator may insert the disks edgewise into the compartment with the lower edges of the disks in grooves I1 and the top edges directly above in grooves l9. As a disk is pushed rearwardly into the cabinet, the top edge engages the foot 22 of a lever 20 and presses it upwardly against the tension of the spring finger 29 directly above it. When the disk is completely inserted, the foot 22 of the lever 2!] will engage the edge of the disk at a point forward of the topmost point on the edge and will hold the disk firmly in place. Any number of disks may be similarly inserted in the cabinet until it is completely filled. The door may be closed and the surface 31 engages the front sides of the disks to further anchor and hold them in proper position Within the cabinet.

When the operator desires to obtain some particular disk within the cabinet, he may open the door to horizontal position which bares the whole series of keys to easy view at the top front of the cabinet. After selecting the key corresponding with the desired disk, the operator may push this key with his finger. This operates to tilt the lever on its pivot and raise the foot portion 22 against the tension of a spring finger 29, thus raising this foot portion from contact with the edge of the disk. This permits the disk to roll forwardly until its bottom edge is over the door [5 and comes against the ridge 35. The surface 36 of the ridge 35 holds the disk against further forward movement and while the disk is so held may be easily grasped by the operator and removed. The position of the disk after it has rolled from the compartment is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4.

Thus it is apparent that the ridgeor stop 35 serves not only to check the forward movement of the disks as they are released for removal, but serves also to ancho the disks in proper position when the door is closed.

The disk holding and releasing mechanism, including the levers 29, springs 28, and keys 32 and 33, is particularly efficient, and all that it is necessary for the operator to do to cause an desired disk to be presented is to select the corresponding key and press it.

The foregoing detailed description has been iven for purposes of explanation only and is not intended in a limiting sense. It is understood that widely differing constructions may be em- Dloyed, all within the spirit of the invention,

I claim:

1. A cabinet comprising a compartment adapted to house a plurality of disks therein, said compartment being open at its front and being provided with inclined surface means at the bottom thereof adapted to support the disks, said surface means being inclined downwardly toward the front of the compartment, releasable means for holding the disks in rearward position within the compartment with their bottom edge resting on said inclined surface means, a door at the front of said compartment and hingedly mounted to the cabinet at the bottom portion of said compartment, said door being adapted when turned to lowered position to receive disks as they move forwardly of the compartment upon release of said releasable means, and stop means on the inner surface of said door for holding the disks against forward movement out of the cabinet.

2. A cabinet as set forth in claim 1 wherein said stop means is a curved surface on the inner side of said door, the contour of said surface conforming in general with the circumference of a disk housed in the compartment.

3. A cabinet comprising a compartment open at its front and adapted to house a plurality of disks therein, said compartment being provided with inclined surface means at the bottom thereof adapted to support the disks, said surface means being inclined downwardly toward the front of the compartment, releasable means for holding the disks in rearward position within the compartment with their bottom edges resting on said inclined surface means, a door at the front of said compartment and pivotally mounted to the cabinet at the bottom portion of said compartment, said door being adapted when turned to lowered position to receive disks as they move forwardly of the compartment upon release of said releasable means, and stop means on the inner surface of said door for holding the disks against forward movement beyond a predetermined point, said means being also adapted to contact the forward edges of the disks when said door is closed and in upright position so as to secure the disks in position within the cabinet.

4. A cabinet as set forth in claim 3 wherein said stop means includes a ridge on the inner surface of said door, the side of said ridge nearer the pivot of the door being a'stop for the disks as they move forwardly of the cabinet and the side of said ridge farther from the pivot of the door being a stop for the forward edges of the diskwhen the door is closed, the center of said ridge being disposed below the vertical center of the disks within the cabinet.

5. A cabinet as set forth in claim 3 wherein said stop means has a curved surface for contacting the edge of a disk when it has moved forward to said predetermined point and has a curved surface for contacting the edge of a disk when said door is closed for holding said disks in position within the cabinet, each of said curved surfaces conforming in curvature with the curvature of the disk edge being contacted.

6. A cabinet as set forth in claim 3 wherein said stop means has a curved surface for contacting the edge of a disk when said door is closed for holding said disks in position within the cabinet, said curved surface conforming in curvature with the curvature of the disk being contacted.

JOHN A. HECKMAN. 

